Nicole Stevens
Nicole Stevens rose to public attention on Love Is Blind and now uses her platform to speak openly about living with ADHD, helping break down stigma and build understanding around ...
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Who are you?
Hi, I'm Nicole and I was on Lovers Blind UK where I met my partner, Benia. Professionally, I'm a marketer and I love holistic wellbeing, so Yoga Q gong, love to dance, love a little salsa here and there, and yeah, I really appreciate the little things in life as well as some of the finer things one could say, I really value family connections and yeah, people, yeah.
When did you first realise ADHD might be something affecting your life?
I had no understanding of A DHD. I didn't even know what A DHD was in that sense. Well, I did, but you just don't have that understanding of it. And I went on this show called Love Is Blind, where I met my now husband and we lived together in that time period. So he got to see me off camera, he got to see every aspect of me. And I think with some of the patterns I was having in exhibiting, especially when it came to organisation, now what I know is time blindness, hyperactivity, and in attentiveness, he thought to say to me that potentially I might have a DHD. So initially I was quite defensive because I just had no understanding of it. But with time, I actually did some reading and did some research to really understand what it is that A DHD was. And actually, as I saw the symptoms, I knew that I had it. And I then went to get an evaluation, which took over four months. From end to end, I went the private route because the cues and the waiting list was very, very long. Yeah. And then I got evaluated. They examined my husband, they asked him questions, they asked my family questions, my close relatives. And then we did an interview and that's when I knew I had a DHD when I got the diagnosis. And then from there it was all about, okay, what Now I have this, what's next?
How did getting that insight help you make sense of past experiences?
Honestly, getting this inside helped me feel, give myself a lot more grace than I had as a child. And growing up I think I was quite disruptive at times at home and a bit of a rebellion. Mom might have told me several times not to go out of the house when she wasn't in or something like that, and I would just go get lost in different places, befriend, random as, and just be a little bit of a rebel really. I didn't really listen to instructions a lot. I was told off in class a lot for being quite disruptive and chatty also. Yeah, like growing up just at times fluctuate in terms of my discipline when it came to school and to education. And now as an adult, in hindsight, I gave myself a lot more grace. But it doesn't take away the pain that you feel feeling a little bit misunderstood or feeling like you are trying, but maybe people might categorise you as lazy or careless or there's some labels that come with the behaviours that the symptoms exhibit. And I guess I don't want to excuse it because some of it, obviously you act in a certain way, but it allows you to recognise that, okay, these were the mistakes or the actions you took, so now how can you now move forward with more grace and understanding, but try and manage the symptoms so you can actually live a life that you can feel proud of, essentially.